1953 in Scotland

Events from the year 1953 in Scotland.

← 1952 1951 1950 1949 1948 1953 in Scotland → 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	List of years in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history 1953 in: The UK • Wales • Elsewhere Scottish football: 1952–53 • 1953–54 1953 in Scottish television

Incumbents

Further information: Politics of Scotland and Order of precedence in Scotland

• Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – James Stuart

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – James Latham Clyde
• Solicitor General for Scotland – William Rankine Milligan

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Cooper
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Thomson
• Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord Gibson

Events

• 30 January – The cargo vessel Clan MacQuarrie runs aground near Borve, Lewis in a storm; all 66 crew are rescued by breeches buoy the following morning.^[1]
• 31 January – The car ferry MV Princess Victoria, sailing from Stranraer to Larne in Northern Ireland, sinks in the Irish Sea in a storm killing 133 people on board.^[2] Fleetwood trawler Michael Griffiths sinks seven miles south of Barra Head with the loss of 13 crew.^[1]
• 9 February – Fraserburgh life-boat John and Charles Kennedy capsizes on service: six crew killed.
• 5 March – PS Maid of the Loch, the last full-size paddle steamer built in the UK, is launched on the River Clyde at A. & J. Inglis's Pointhouse Shipyard. On 25 May, she enters excursion service on Loch Lomond.
• c. March – New Bridge Street Bridge across Peterhead harbour completed, the last Scherzer rolling lift bridge erected by Sir William Arrol & Co. of Glasgow.
• 16 April – The Queen launches the Royal Yacht Britannia at John Brown & Company shipbuilders at Clydebank.^[3]
• 20 May – Celtic F.C. beat Hibernian 2-0 in the final of the Coronation Cup (football) at Hampden Park.^[4]
• 20 June – Most of the population of the island of Soay, Skye, moves to the Isle of Mull.
• 24 June – First state visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Scotland since her accession; the Honours of Scotland are carried before the monarch for the first time since 1822^[5] and presented to her at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh.
• 22 July – Great Bernera is connected to Lewis by Scotland's first prestressed concrete girder bridge.^[6]
• 8 August – The northbound Royal Scot train derails near Abington descending from Beattock Summit due to buckling of track caused by high temperature; 37 are injured.^[7]
• 27 October – Arbroath life-boat Robert Lindsay capsizes on service: six crew killed.
• Scottish law case of MacCormick v Lord Advocate decides that the right of Elizabeth II to so style herself in Scotland is a matter of royal prerogative.
• IBM establishes a manufacturing facility in Greenock.

Births

• 1 January – Maureen Beattie, Irish-born actress
• 6 January – Malcolm Young, rock guitarist (died 2017 in Australia)
• 11 January – John Sessions, born John Gibb Marshall, actor and comedian (died 2020)
• 20 January – John Robertson, international footballer
• 27 February – Gavin Esler, television journalist
• 6 April – Patrick Doyle, film composer
• 6 May
  • Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1997-2007
  • Graeme Souness, international footballer and manager
• 19 May – Patrick Hodge, lawyer, a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
• 21 May – Jim Devine, Labour politician^[8]
• 22 May – Andy Nisbet, mountaineer (died 2019)
• 23 May – Ronald Frame, fiction writer
• 7 June
  • Colin Boyd, Baron Boyd of Duncansby, lawyer and judge
  • Dougie Donnelly, television presenter
• 23 June – John Stahl, actor (died 2022)^[9]
• 24 August – Sam Torrance, golfer
• 31 August – Jimmy McKenna, actor
• 8 September – John McGlynn, actor
• 10 September – John Thurso, born John Sinclair, businessman and Liberal Democrat politician
• 28 September – Jim Diamond, pop singer-songwriter (died 2015)
• 21 October – Eric Faulkner, pop musician
• 4 November – Derek Johnstone, international footballer
• 12 November – Calum MacDonald, Celtic rock songwriter and percussionist
• 22 December – Gregor Fisher, actor and comedian
• Steven Campbell, figurative painter (died 2007)
• Ian Read, businessman

Deaths

• 19 March – Thomas Hunter, Unionist Party politician and Member of Parliament (MP) for Perth (born 1872)
• 1 June – Alex James, international footballer (born 1901)
• 23 July – Sir Thomas Jaffrey, actuary (born 1861)
• 30 September – Lewis Fry Richardson, mathematical physicist (born 1881 in England)

The arts

• April – Comedy film Laxdale Hall is released.
• Lewis Spence's Collected Poems are published in Edinburgh.

See also

• 1953 in Northern Ireland

References

1. "Clan Macquarrie – historic rescue at Borve". Stornoway Gazette. Archived from the original on 26 July 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
2. "130 die in ferry disaster". On This Day. BBC. 31 January 1953. Archived from the original on 8 January 2008. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
3. "Queen launches Royal Yacht Britannia". On This Day. BBC. 16 April 1953. Archived from the original on 21 January 2008. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
4. "The green shoots of recovery with Hibs". Scotland On Sunday. 10 September 2005.
5. "Notable Dates in History". The Flag in the Wind. The Scots Independent. Archived from the original on 23 May 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
6. "Great Bernera Bridge". Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
7. "Accident at Abington on 8th August 1953". Railways Archive. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
8. "WPR - Jim Devine (Ex-MP)". 15 July 2011. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011.
9. "John Stahl obituary". the Guardian. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.